The Shelter

UV 4287/10000 The Shelter And there will be a pavilion for shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and a shelter from the storm and the rain. Isaiah 4 v 6 The last year and a half has witnessed what is called a perfect storm affecting the whole world but those who are walking in the favour or grace of God in Christ are preserved. His favour surrounds us even in the most unfavourable or adverse circumstances. The Lord Himself is our tabernacle, our house, our pavilion for shade from the heat by day, the cold by night and the storm and rain. He has sheltered us from premature death, from diseases, from unknown dangers and threats, from known threats and enemies. He enables us to live above the level of our earthly or worldly circumstances by rejoicing in two facts, the birth of our Saviour in flesh and blood like us, the death and resurrection of Jesus. In Him, we have victory over death and sin. He shelters us from all the viles of the enemy of our souls and all the weapons the enemy and his agents forge against us. Like an umbrella or a shield has many ribs, likewise each promise of God contained in scripture is a rib for us to hold onto. As we hold onto the promises of God, staying close to Him, the Lord undertakes to protect us. Instead of running helter skelter seeking protection, we focus on the Lord as the locus of our lives. The enemy often rains down on us his fiery darts and arrows of misfortune but the Lord shields us from all of these. We do not dwell in a state with man-made laws to protect and punish the offenders but we dwell in the eternal kingdom of the Lord. The writ of the Lord begins with the internal. He protects us from our own mortal thoughts and tendencies. The Lord is a dynamic shelter or refuge for His own. For the ancient Israelites walking for forty years through the vast wilderness of Egypt towards the promised land of freedom and fulfilment of their hope, the Lord manifested as a cloud of protection from the heat by day and as a fire of warmth, security and light of guidance from the cold by night. According to our need, the Lord manifests His grace to be sufficient or adequate for that need. Under the new covenant, the Holy Spirit manifests as the cloud of comfort and strength to us as well as a fire within us.